Hospitals Select BT, Nortel to Deliver Converged Networks; Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust Opt for IP Telephony

Business Wire, Nov 22, 2004

LONDON -- BT has deployed converged Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions from Nortel (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT) for Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust. This demonstrates the continued commitment of BT and Nortel to provide secure, innovative, practical convergence solutions that help organizations transform the delivery of public sector services and make it easier for citizens to connect with them.

These IP telephony solutions will provide secure and reliable networks that will help both Trusts to drive reduced operating costs by converging voice and data traffic onto a single network and by simplifying network maintenance and support. The combination of voice and data onto a single network also enables a wide range of advanced new communications and networking services.

Neil Hemming, general manager, channel and market development, BT Global Services Convergent Solutions, said: "Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust and Guy's & St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust are demonstrating a real drive and commitment to modernize the use of IT and communications in the health service. These contract wins show that we understand and can respond to the needs of NHS Trusts."

Tony Bailey, general manager, BT account enterprise business, EMEA, Nortel, said: "We consider health service to be one of the most vital markets in the UK for deploying Nortel converged network solutions. Through BT, our innovative enterprise solutions help enhance the human experience by delivering secure and reliable public sector communications and networking services."

"Furthermore, the new Nortel voice recognition system called SpeechDial deployed as part of the overall solution speeds up the time it takes callers to get through to anybody within the Trusts, providing a better service to both patients and staff," Bailey said.

Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest hospital trusts in the UK with more than 750,000 patient contacts every year. The telephone system is vital to its service, but its previous phone systems had little spare capacity and limited functionality and problems were made worse by the two-mile distance between the two hospital sites.

Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust wanted to deploy IP telephony while making best use of a QoS (Quality of Service)-capable local area network (LAN) already in place. Responsibility for critical care and emergency services makes the Trust an extremely risk averse customer. However, reference sites within the health sector for BT's Nortel solution and an excellent relationship with BT gave the Trust the confidence to make the change.

Over a single weekend, BT engineers installed two Nortel Communication Server 1000s using a multi-group configuration, together with a single, centralised Nortel Symposium Call Centre Server. A mix of 1,000 Nortel IP phones were also installed under a BT contract worth GBP 1.8 million.

The Trust has minimised capital spend by using spare capacity in its existing IP network. Calls between sites, some 80 per cent of the total, are free. A new range of direct dial (DDI) numbers has cut incoming call diversions from 29,000 to only 6,000 per day. Doctors -- wherever they are -- can rely on unified messaging services as well as contact centre features including self service applications for incoming patient calls, delivering more efficiency.

Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, located in the heart of Wolverhampton, employs 4,000 health professionals. Its two main facilities comprise the New Cross Hospital and Wolverhampton & Midland Counties Eye Infirmary. These sites are part of a substantial redevelopment programme that aims to ensure the highest level of health treatment for the region.

Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals' existing telecommunications infrastructure was nearing the end of its natural lifespan and the Trust was aware that steps were needed to give employees and patients a solution that would improve rather than hinder the administration of healthcare. This needed to be within the context of the unique demands of a public health facility, and the desire to create a financially effective, future-proofed solution.

BT's IP telephony solution for Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals includes Nortel Communication Server 1000, Nortel Symposium Express Call Centre, Nortel CallPilot unified messaging system and Nortel Optivity Telephony Manager (OTM). The capability to support IP and analogue telephony has allowed a combination of IP and digital handsets to be installed.

A single network has created significant efficiencies in the resources needed to manage voice and data communications, as well as greater overall resilience. Telephony savings are being achieved through the more cost-effective use of network services. In a further redevelopment, a single cabling solution is lowering the outlay on new infrastructure.

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BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include IT and networking services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.